Ancient Ways
by FierceDeityMask
Summary: Alternate Universe: A story of resistance, resolve, and revolution. Pokemon and people must come together and strengthen the ties that bind them together.  Lots of Original Characters and no resemblance to any existing game or book.
1. Setting the Stage

***Obligatory Fan-fiction Disclaimer:

Although the author of this story is FierceDeityMask, the story below utilizes characters and concepts that in NO WAY belong to the author. The material in this story is predominantly owned by the developers and producers of the Pokemon franchise. This story is not to be reproduced or reiterated without the author's express consent and should be posted and viewed only on . Once again, all credit for ideas, characters, and designs go to their respective owners, predominantly NOT this author.***

Ancient Ways: A Pokemon Story

Intro: The Spark of Conflict

In an age before the invention of modern pokeballs, man and monster were in harmony. Each was capable of feats beyond modern comprehension. Working and training as both friends and enemies, treated as equals amongst each other. This peace was not to last, however. A man began preaching to all who would listen, Barbaros was his name. He spoke of superiority, power and wealth. Many of mankind were tempted easily by such revolutionary speeches. They banded under Barbaros as a group known as the Superiors. Common folk and many pokemon saw the Superiors as a trifling band of uppity rogues who would soon fade out of style. Unfortunately, that was exactly what Barbaros was hoping for. One day, going down in history as Barbaros' Rise, he unleashed his secret weapon. A small, dull sphere with a black hue, it was known as a Pokemon Capture Device, shortened to pokeball due to its shape. A sinister upset to the natural order, this new device changed everything. Performing a process of imprisonment and brainwashing, it reduced the intelligent pokemon to the state of subservient pawns. Barbaros' Superiors used the new device to dominate all in their path. They soon ruled the entire land with an iron fist, crushing all resistance. But, as with all totalitarian empires, hope never truly died. Small pockets of resistance remained hidden throughout the land, in locations that the Superiors easily overlooked. This is the story of their collaborative efforts, a story of cooperation, trial, and triumph.


	2. Fire: The Heart of the Mountain

***Obligatory Fan-fiction Disclaimer:

Although the author of this story is FierceDeityMask, the story below utilizes characters and concepts that in NO WAY belong to the author. The material in this story is predominantly owned by the developers and producers of the Pokemon franchise. This story is not to be reproduced or reiterated without the author's express consent and should be posted and viewed only on . Once again, all credit for ideas, characters, and designs go to their respective owners, predominantly NOT this author.***

***Authors Note: This is where the story actually starts, but you need to read the intro before you will understand some of the background info. This story will change characters a lot as it progresses, so expect a number of different viewpoints."

Ancient Ways

Fire Chapter 1: The Heart of the Mountain

200 years after the Rise of Barbaros, the land had settled into a new system, a totalitarian empire with Barbaros at its head. Seemingly, Barbaros was immortal as he had not a year on him since his takeover. His imprisonment devices were formidable, even the mightiest of pokemon could be caught with a little bit of effort. Granted, only previously caught pokemon had to exert themselves, humans merely bossed others around. But not all the people and pokemon had fallen to the fearsome new capture craze. People of the Old Ways, as the practice of respect between species was now called, had hidden and prospered in exile. Now the coming of age ceremony for a young boy and a pokemon coincided in one of those clans, so both were being celebrated simultaneously. The story begins at the ceremony, in the ancient town of Vulcanis. Hidden deep within a volcano know as Mount Magmara, the town was set in volcanic tunnels too inhospitable for the unadapted Superiors.

(Ancient Ways will be back right after this message, in the mean time, which Pokemon evolves into Seviper?)

A quick word about how human's can use pokemon moves before the story begins. Like pokemon, a Human _can_ focus his/her internal energy, the nature of which is not fully understood, to perform supernatural acts, but the difference is that humans do not have a natural restriction on the moves they can use like the Power Points of pokemon. They could easily use their moves indefinitely if such an attempt did not get harder with each consecutive move, if they push themselves too hard they can weaken, faint, or in extreme over-extensions simply die from exertion. This is not true for any move a human has affinity for, so if the move matches up with the inherent "type" the human is born with, there is no danger of over-extension at all. (If you guessed Arbok you were obviously not paying attention! Now back to our show!)

"C'mon Houndour, let's go to the ceremony!" The Human boy named Pyros was an eager youth, he always went poking around and rushing into things where he didn't belong.

"You mean let's _race_ to the ceremony? You never _go_ anywhere, you always have to _race_!" Houndour had been taking care of Pyros since they both were pups. But he never got tired of it, mostly because every mess Pyros got into was unique, and required a different solution. "Remember what the elder said, 'Swift fire burns brightest..."

Houndour was interrupted by Pyros, " ...but you always burn out just as quick' I know, I heard it a bajillion times!"

Then from behind them came a third voice, "Heard yes, but have you learned anything?" The two jumped at the same time. They turned and saw the elder, a pokemon named Torkoal approach slowly. He continued, "Today is a big day for both of you! I remember when I was coming of age, I had so many jitters I erupted twice! So boys, tell me... How do you feel today?"

Pyros responded immediately, "Like I could torch Barbaros'...

This time Houndour interrupted him, but for a different reason...

"We both feel fine, why do you ask?" He said quickly to omit the incoming expletive.

Torkoal gazed thoughtfully at them both for a long time, (which was one thing Pyros hated...), and then sighed, (which was another thing). He spoke slowly and deliberately, as though the words were more important in meaning than he was letting on, "Today, as with all Ceremony of Age, the two of you must face a Trial. The nature of this trial and the things it entails are secrets I cannot reveal. But the goal is simple: reach the Heart of Magmara, and conquer the challenge there. You must leave in five hours time, or wait until next year. You may take anything with you, but the two of you must travel with no one but each other, to enlist aid is to forfeit. Stay safe and stay strong. Should you return by tomorrow, then you will be granted all privileges of the Clan of Vulcanis. I wish you luck... farewell." The last word sounded pained, almost as if the old Torkoal was saying good-bye to a friend he would never see again.

Houndour was anxious to begin, but he knew they needed supplies. He reined in Pyros and set off as fast as he could to get things for their trip. A rope (he couldn't use it but Pyros might), a sack, a compass, food, and a couple Ethers ( Just in case they needed a power boost. Which he hoped they would not.), shoved it all into the sack. Then the two set off to the town gate to begin questing to the Heart of Magmara, the only trouble now was finding it.

"Are we there yet?" Pyros asked.

"No, we haven't been there the last twenty times you asked and we are STILL not there yet!" Houndour was hard to annoy but Pyros was really outdoing himself this time.

"Do you even know where were going?" He had asked this one a lot, too.

"NO! WE ARE NOT THERE BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHERE 'THERE' IS! SO BE _QUIET_!" Houndour finally snapped and bit Pyros' hand none too gently.

"OWWWW! What was that for?" It was hard to tell whether or not Pyros even realized what a jerk he was being at that point.

"Shhhh! Did you hear something?" Houndour dropped to a ready stance.

Pyros, sensing that trouble was approaching, prepared himself for combat. "No, but something huge is coming, I can feel it."

A disembodied noise resonated through the tunnels.

~Leave this place.~

"Who's there, show yourself!" Houndour had a sneaking suspicion that he knew the nature of the sound.

~You _dare_ to command me? You _DARE_ oppose my will? This is MY mountain! I shall NOT abide your insolence! _MAGMA STORM!~_

"Pyros, get down!" Houndour sensed the attack coming, and attempted to warn his partner.

Pyros attempted to follow his orders, but just as he dropped a rumble shook the ground and set him off balance. At this point the entire mountain seemed to shudder and the cavern walls around them became as hot as a furnace.

"No..." Terror filled Pyros as he heard a sound that scared children of his village witless from an early age. Magma leak.

Then as swiftly as the heat wave came, wave after wave of molten lava blasted the duo from all sides. Houndour knew that it was hopeless for them to try to escape the way they came, so he grabbed Pyros from the ground in his teeth, and dug a hole for all he was worth.

The dig was torturous, heated ground burned his paws and lava seeped down from above at the angle he was digging in. A enraged roar was heard above, a mix of metal grinding and hot steam hissing. At last they fell through to another cavern.

The two took a moment to gather their wits, but their break was cut short by the noise again.

~You will _not_ escape! I will _never_ let you take my Heart!~

Pyros finally spoke, "His heart? Houndour is that the god the Elders talk about? The one who's the 'Heart of the Mountain'?"

"Yeah, it's him all right. The elders call him Heatran. He's our challenge! Pyros get ready!" The worry in Houndour's voice was obvious. How would they fight their god? Could it even be done?

"All right, Houndour! Here goes everything!" Pyros was also worried, but he knew that losing wasn't an option.

But neither one of them was truly ready for the next battle, their showdown with Heatran.

TO BE CONTINUED IN...

Fire Chapter 2: Fiery Face-off


	3. Fire: Fiery Faceoff

***Obligatory Fan-fiction Disclaimer:

Although the author of this story is FierceDeityMask, the story below utilizes characters and concepts that in NO WAY belong to the author. The material in this story is predominantly owned by the developers and producers of the Pokemon franchise. This story is not to be reproduced or reiterated without the author's express consent and should be posted and viewed only on fanfiction dot net . Once again, all credit for ideas, characters, and designs go to their respective owners, predominantly NOT this author.***

Ancient Ways

Fire Chapter 2: The Fiery Face-off

The thoughts were racing through Pyros' head like Rapidash. He always had a hard time concentrating, but it was worse in battle. Especially if the battle was with a Legendary Fire-Steel behemoth like Heatran! But he couldn't hesitate this time, not with his buddy Houndour on the line as well.

"Hey, Houndour." He whispered to his pal (as though the opponent couldn't hear him.) "How are we gonna fight something as powerful as this?"

He looked to Houndour for some encouragement, as he always did, but found that for the first time Houndour had nothing of the sort.

Houndour replied, "I don't think we can Pyros. The story says Heatran made this mountain, it says he rose it from the ground and that should he fall.."

~...So too shall this mountain.~ This time Heatran spoke through his mouth, a sizzling sound like molten iron. ~Now do you see? You have nothing to gain, and everything to lose! Leave this place at once and I may spare your pathetic mortal lives!~

"Well, he sure sounds angry!" said Pyros with a grin.

"Pyros! This is no time for jokes! We have to go! Now!" Houndour was uneasy just being _near_ the Legendary Heatran. What did Pyros think he was _doing_?

"Hold on a sec." Pyros then turned to Heatran, "Hey, we are on a quest of sort, and we were wondering if you could..."

~QUEST? You DARE come to me for HELP?~

"Yeah, basically we were supposed to reach the center of the mountain and..."

~_SILENCE!_ You have considerable nerve if you mean to beseech me! I owe you nothing but swift death! I gave you a chance, now I will CRUSH you where you stand! _METAL CLAW!~_

This time Pyros saw it coming, and dodged by rolling to the left.

~You DARE mock me! You will DIE!~

Houndour watched in horror as Pyros dodged and rolled and jumped and flipped. With each stroke Pyros managed to dodge he grew more tired but Heatran only grew more angry! Houndour could do nothing against the opponent and he knew better than to think Pyros could do any better. So why did Pyros enrage Heatran? Surely he didn't think Heatran would actually help. Did he? Then, finally, the tension reached its peak and Heatran roared as he unhinged his jaw...

Pyros saw the motion but couldn't evade because of fatigue. All that dodging really took it out of him. When the fire began to spill from Heatran's face, the only regret Pyros had was that Houndour hadn't run away. The flames leapt closer and closer as time seemed to slow down, when suddenly... "PYROS!" Houndour shouted as he leapt into the flames path, shielding his friend from the inferno. The flames scorched his back, and Pyros gazed in awe as Houndour gritted his teeth against the intensity. But that wasn't all, Houndour had begun to glow red, then orange, then blue, until finally he was shining a bright white! Heatran stopped his attack, but not soon enough. When the glow receded, facing him was not a Houndour, but a very angry looking Houndoom!

"Heatran! You may be my idol, you may have made this mountain where we live, and you may be as invincible as the stories say! But that doesn't mean I'll just hang back, watching dumbfounded as you try to kill my best friend! We have a bond that was forged many years ago. I'll show you how strong it has become! Pyros, let's get him!"

"You got it, Houndoom! Let's show him how tough we really are!" The energy from Houndoom's evolution had re-energized Pyros, he felt better than ever!

~Very well, come! I will show you both TRUE POWER!~ Heatran's final words were said with such force that the cavern heaved around them.

The battle began again, and hotter than ever! Houndoom opened with Flamethrower and Heatran countered with Iron Head smashing Houndoom into a wall. Pyros wasn't just sitting back and watching though, he had some tricks of his own. First, he used a combo he learned from Houndoom, Flame Charge plus Faint Attack. Smashing into a foe while ablaze then disappearing only to charge again from another angle. He battered Heatran from all directions, never ceasing his assault. By this time Houndoom was back up and he took up the pattern as well. As the two fireballs crashed into the Legendary, he finally gave way. His defenses were weakened and the two finished with their Combination Attack: Darkblaze Blitz. The impact of the searing shadow, shot up all manner of dust and debris. Finally, the smoke cleared. The fight was over as Heatran was lying on the ground, immobile.

~Listen well, Human.~ Heatran was telepathically speaking again. ~You and your partner fight valiantly, I see in you the flames of hope, burning brightly for us all. If you mean well for this world, if you would challenge the destiny set before you. Bring my Gem, the Magma Stone to the Village Elder, and he will point you toward the correct path. I believe you can save us all, Pyros. Good luck...~ The last word trailed off as Heatran vanished in a puff of smoke leaving only a red gemstone behind. Pyros picked it up and turned to Houndoom, his faithful companion.

"Whaddya say we go kick destiny in it's preordained posterior?"

Houndoom laughed, and growled his agreement and the two set off for home.

The atmosphere in the Elder's abode was heavy, like the gravity of the situation was crushing all those present. Torkoal did his annoying, gaze-and-sigh-loudly routine again. Then he addressed the two new full members of the village, "Houndoom. Pyros. You both did the unthinkable today. It was brash, reckless, dangerous, and foolish, but it was also evidently required. Listen well, though it pains me to tell you this the day you are accepted, you must leave the village as soon as you are able."

Pyros blurted out, "Why?"

Torkoal did the routine, then said "You would know if you would let me finish. You must go to the Village of Water, it is beneath the Mirage Lake. Leave the village and go south, toward the Twin Summit, Mirage Lake is in that direction. When you reach the Volcano's edge, be wary of everyone and everything. No one but the two of you is to be trusted, no matter how friendly they appear to be. When you reach the village show them the stone, then you will know what to do next. Is that clear?" The two nodded solemnly.

Torkoal said one last thing as a farewell, "Good-bye, we all believe in you."

And the two set off for their next adventure.


	4. Water: The Sacrifice

(A/N: Before I start chapter 3... please do not comment on my grammar, I would very much appreciate content help and information on problems like plot holes. But I will not consider or possibly even read any comment that is strictly Gramar/spelling centric. This is because I will continue to write as I have written for 11 years regardless of comments on grammar and punctuation. Thank you in advance to all readers!)

Ancient Ways

Water Chapter 1: The Sacrifice

Although the Fire clan was prosperous in its exile, there were other, less fortunate, outcasts. In particular the Water-type people and pokemon had developed a totalitarian hierarchy in their clan hidden deep beneath the Mirage Lake. The powerful oppressed the weak, and where you were born was where you stayed as far as society was concerned. Three classes: Top, Middle, or Bottom; no reprieve, no pardon, no escape. Mirage Lake was a curious thing, no one could in and no one could go out, unless the Guardian of the Lake deemed them worthy. It almost never did, those attempting that were deemed unworthy were never seen again. Although the Guardian seemed inhospitable it _did_ keep Barbaros from investigating the lake, but not without a price...

The Main Current was bustling as usual, noisy pokemon and merchants all wanting to be heard by residents taking the current through Mirage Reef. "Look at me!", "You need this!", "Please donate!" all these sayings and more assaulted all those who passed through the Reef like a Crabhammer to the eardrum. All the hustle and commotion peeved more than a few folks of the Bottom but as with every other aspect of the Lake there was nothing to be done by them about it. Also in the noise was a jeering and shoving scene, despite the Enforcement Officer Poliwrath stationed nearby. As always, the guards turned a blind eye on this type of fight, where the weak were being bombarded by those more fortunate. In this instance it was a Bottom-level Totodile against three Middle-level Goldeens, to be referred to as Jerk 1, Jerk 2, and Jerk 3.

"Hey, Bottom-feeder! Where's your bite now?" Jerk 1 jeered maliciously as he poked and prodded the Totodile with the horn on his head.

"Yeah, " added Jerk 2, "show us that famous spunk!"

"He's too much of loser." said Jerk 3 "I mean look at him, he doesn't have any guts!"

The hateful litany continued, as did the prodding, but the Totodile didn't even respond with so much as a grunt. Finally, fed up with being ignored, the three all pulled back at once at prepared to charge as one.

"Let's see you ignore this, freak!" They all began to move when suddenly...

"That's enough!" The voice came from nowhere and startled the Goldeens into stopping. They quickly regained their "composure" and turned on the source of the noise, it was a young human girl in a light blue dress that seemed to blend with the lake water.

"Who do you think you are to tell us what to do?" The Jerks demanded.

The girl replied swiftly and smoothly, "I'm more important than you. Now go crawl back into whatever hole-in-the-reef you came from."

The Jerks were taken aback by her sharp words and once again prepared to attack, this time targeting the girl who ruined their "fun", when again...

"You three, go home!" The guard nearby interrupted them and shooed them away. They left sullenly, mumbling things like "until next time" under their breath. The guard gave the girl a nod and the Totodile the stink-eye then turned and went away.

"Are you okay?" The girl looked friendly enough, despite obviously not being a Bottom-level like the Totodile. So he decided to talk it out instead of running like he normally did.

"I'..." The words came in such a hurried rush that they all ran together. The girl politely shushed him with a gesture from her hand.

"Slow down a bit, little guy. Let's go somewhere where we can talk easier, okay?"

The Totodile's trap sense was tingling, but that cleared up as he realized that for once this human didn't intend to attack him and/or shun him. She was actually being friendly, so he chose to go along with a nod of his head. She led him through the current while holding his hand so they would not be separated. When they finally got clear of the crowd a gasp escaped Totodile as he realized where they were. This was the Top-level! Bottom-levelers were not even allowed inside! He was going to get in trouble for this... But again the girl seemed to read his mind and reassure him.

"Don't worry about trouble, if you stick with me you'll be fine. Okay?"

The Totodile nodded and followed, careful not to talk in case that was bad still. When they had passed several large coral mansions, the girl spoke again, "Do those Goldeen attack you a lot?"

Again the Totodile nodded. Then the girl turned toward one of the big houses and went through the "door". Of course coral houses for people were not flooded all the time, so the "door" was really a semi-bubble that water could not pass through.

"Don't be shy, come on in." The girl pulled the Totodile inside the bubble. She led them to a room, slowly at first so the Totodile could practice walking on solid ground (Bottom levelers almost never experienced the wonders of ground), with two chairs in the middle and pictures hanging on the walls. She sat the Totodile down, then seated herself.

"So let's start again, _slowly_, this time, okay? What do people call you?" It was an innocent question, but it got misinterpreted by long years of torment and despair.

"Bottom-feeder, freak, pond scum, loser..." the Totodile was winding up when the girl shushed him again.

"Sorry, I meant what do you_ want_ to be called?" She rephrased her question to clarify.

The Totodile looked like a Deerling in headlights until he finally got the message, _ she was being friendly._ "Dile!" He said quickly "I want people to call me Dile, but no one ever does..."

The girl looked at him sympathetically and then said, "I can call you that easily."

Dile looked up super-stunned, "Really! Really-truly-honest-_really_ really?"

She chuckled. "Yes, really. You are just full of energy, aren't you?"

"Yes I am!" Dile said proudly. Then he realized he should probably reciprocate the question. "What do _you_ want to be called Nice Lady?"

She almost blushed and said, "Please, I'm hardly a lady. Still, you can call me Alessa, alright?"

"Okay, Alessa." Dile said, then tentatively added, "Are you really as important as you told those Goldeen?"

"Sort of... in a way..." She trailed off and looked troubled.

Dile was no expert conversationalist but he thought she was nice and was sorry to make her feel bad. So he added quickly,

"Cool! Sorry to bring it up! Who's in the pictures on the walls? They all look about your age." He was attempting desperately to change the subject.

"They are or were a lot like me and soon I'll be even more like them." Alessa said with a hint of a foreboding tone. Totodile looked quizzical so she continued despite the upcoming revelation.

"You know the Guardian, right? Well every year, in order to "protect" us, he demands tribute, right?"

Totodile nodded not yet grasping the magnitude of her implications.

"Well, this year, _I_ am the tribute. They are going to sacrifice me to the Guardian. Sorry Dile, I wish I could stay and we could be friends. But later today I have to go and.. and..." She choked out the truth and began sobbing. Dile literally jumped out of his chair in surprise. Here she was, the only person to care about him or thought of him as a friend, crying and about to be sacrificed to the malicious "Guardian", the same one who installed the System and made his life miserable. This couldn't happen, not to Alessa, not to his friend. But how could one Bottom-level Totodile stop it? He didn't know but he _would _find out.


	5. Water: No Choice

(Authors note: This story, though it pains me, is discontinued as of this chapter; I will continue to write it on my computer but a lack of notice, along with limited trolling, have disheartened me and as such I will not update again. Fierce Deity signing off, sorry.)

Ancient Ways

Water Chapter 2: No Choice

"What can we do? Anything?" Dile needed options. Alessa was going to die for sure, but not if he could do _something _to help.

Alessa just sadly shook her head, but seemed surprised that Dile would even ask. "Dile, if something could be done about the Sacrificial Rites I would have done it _years_ ago. I've known since I was really little... back before all the other girls went..." She trailed off again, once more on the verge of tears.

"No!" Said Dile suddenly, "No more crying and no more 'It's hopeless' talk!" Alessa looked up in shock. Dile continued, "I grew up in the slums, beaten, picked on and abused. I knew all along that no one would care, so I just gave up crying and trying to fight back. But, then, something happened. YOU came along! I was being picked on and bothered and you stood up for me! Since then I realized, I _have_ to care and try, I_ have _to believe that things can improve because you, Alessa, showed me that they can. Don't give up, that's NOT an option."

"You know what..." Alessa began slowly, her voice quickly growing more firm, "You're absolutely right, Dile. I won't quit yet. Not until the end. Also, there is one thing to do... I was just so absorbed by fear and anguish that I didn't even think about it."

"What is it! A plan? Do you have a plan?"

"Less of a plan and more of a 'secret weapon'."

"Ooooo, whatsit?"

The two began whispering to each other hurriedly, because the guards would arrive soon.

"Okay?"

"You got it, Alessa. We'll stick together until the end!"

The Poliwhirl guards entered after banging on the door approximately 7 times.

"It's time to go, come along... Wait where is she?" Alessa was nowhere to be seen. This did nothing to improve the Poliwrath Captain of the Guard's mood.

"Find her! NOW! The ritual _must_ be completed today! The elder will have my head otherwise." A guard pushed to the front of the group.

"Sir, the guards posted outside say she returned with a Totodile from the Bottom Level earlier and has not left since."

"Then she must be in the house! Hunt her down!"

A voice came from behind them, "I'm right here." the guards turned around and saw Alessa, seemingly downcast and at terms with her fate.

The captain of the guard went forward, "Are you ready? It is time."

Alessa just looked down and frowned, "I know..."

The Captain looked unnecessarily over-joyed, "Good! Take her away!"

The guards shoved her out the door and down the road. So absorbed in the scene, no one noticed Dile slip out the window and dash across the yard toward the palace. He knew that all the hope for Alessa was riding on him getting to the palace before the guards, which is why he inwardly groaned as he saw the three Goldeens: Jerks 1 through 3.

"Hey there, Loser." Said Jerk 1, "Thought you were safe? HA!"

After all he had been through today, Dile merely gave the three would-be tormentors a disdainful stare, followed by a Water Pulse to their faces. He then dashed passed the confused fools as they charged into walls saying intelligible phrases such as, "Waduh? Whereduh?". After he had little time to suffer through idiots.

Finally, after slipping through various shortcuts and dodging around sacrifice processions, he came to the Great Palace of the Lake God. Unimpressed by its capitalized title, he ran around the palace to the secret entrance Alessa told him about. The sewer exit is always the worst yet usually most viable entry point. Bracing himself he dove to the garbage and waste. The nauseating fumes overwhelmed him to the point of dizziness but he pressed onward. He finally emerged in the Halls of Waste Water.

~Why is it all these places have capitalized names?~ he wondered. Then he shrugged the thought aside as unimportant. What was important was rescuing Alessa and he had no idea how far the convoy had gone. He secretly snuck through all manner of rooms and facilities, at last he arrived in the Sacrificial Chamber of Sacrifices. As redundant in use as it was in name, the Chamber was merely where the sacrifice was read her "last rites" before being sent to the Lake God's Basin.

He lay in wait in the shadows of a rafter until at last the convoy entered, shoving Alessa in first. The Master of Ceremonies, a fat Whiscash with nothing to do but design inane double-talking speeches, was just winding up his "your sacrifice shall not be in vain" spiel when the Captain of the Guard interrupted rather UN-ceremoniously.

"With all due respect, 'Master of Whatever', we should really finish this soon. We haven't got much time left, you know."

"My word, this was to be my magnum opus, my gem of speeches, my..."

"Yeah, whatever. Lets move, fellas. To the Basin!"

Dile was slightly startled, this was not the plan. The rescue was supposed to happen during the ridiculously extended speech. Now he needed a new plan, and fast. They were moving away! He slinked along the rafter, went too fast, slipped, and fell RIGHT IN FRONT of the guard's convoy. The resulting scene could be best described as total chaos although madness would have worked just as well. The ever-well-tempered Captain recovered first, "SIEZE HIM!", and seizing ensued.

Dile heard, "Two sacrifices are better than one!" from somewhere within the Poliwhirl mess and was roughly shoved in the general direction of the Basin entrance, then all of a sudden the door opened and a vortex sucked the whole convoy into the Basin, captives and all. Then the door slammed shut and all was dark.


	6. Water: The Titan and the Illusion

Authors note: I know I said I was done, but someone requested I continue so here is the next chapter. I have a lot more stored up so I will post them soon.

Ancient Ways

Water Chapter 3: The Titan and the Illusion

The cave was dark. Dile rose slowly and carefully from the place where he lay prone, making sure no guards were still attached to his various appendages by Vicegrip. There were none, in fact there seemed to be nobody near him, not even...

Dile was immediately alarmed, where was Alessa? Where was anybody? He began to shout names into the dark but there was no response.

"Where is everybody?" He began thinking aloud, just so he could concentrate on something other than the darkness everywhere. The darkness was frightening and soon his mind began filling in the blank, dark slate with nasty images of scary beasts...

Quickly he shook his head, refusing to give into fear, and picked a direction to walk in. Given the total darkness, however, the picking merely involved standing up and walking. He walked for what felt like hours and hours until finally he thought he saw a faint light in the distance, he ran toward it, anxious to escape the dark. Closer, closer, finally he the light was near enough that he saw the light was really a doorway with torches around it. He approached the strange door and attempted to open it, but it would not budge. Suddenly a voice came from the gloom just out side the light of the torches. _"You have come to this, the end of the road. But for what purpose, to what end? Answer and answer truly. Only then shall the door permit you entry..."_

"Who are you?" Dile inquired, but the voice was not replying, so he saw no choice but to answer the proposed question. He thought awhile about how to answer and then said with as much conviction as he could muster,

"I know not who or what you are, nor if I can trust you. But my purpose shall be known, I am here to defend what matters to me and end this atrocious cycle of pointless sacrifice once and for all!" He was slightly surprised at his own voice, which was usually either exuberant or meek. When it came to saving Alessa, he realized, he felt he could stand up to anything. His thought were startled again by the voice.

_"That is your purpose? That is your resolve? Such pathetic reasons. __What do you stand to gain by foolishly defying all that has gone before you?"_

"I think a better question is 'what do I stand to lose by doing nothing?'. If I turn now and flee as I always have before, then I would be exactly what everyone wants me to be: a hopeless coward who does as he's told. Well that time has passed. I won't cower any longer, I'll end this now!" Again Dile was impressed by his speech. But he meant every word of it.

_"Very well... Enter little hero, enter your grave..."_ The voice faded and the door opened with a slow scraping of stone on stone. Dile entered the doorway and the door closed behind him. He didn't care. One way or another this would end here.

The last cavern was humongous, easily twice the size of the palace throne room. This was the Sea God's Basin. Dile walked forward a few steps, then froze. All around him were the skeletons of the Poli-guards, every one of them stripped of flesh. Though slightly unnerved he scanned the chamber for Alessa, then he saw her. She was unconscious of a dais on the edge of the basin, which was filled with murky water. He began to run to her when he was stopped by a quake which shook the whole cave. Rocks began to fall from the ceiling and the whole floor heaved and quivered. The water of the basin began to froth and foam, waves formed and crashed into the rim of the basin, a rock wall around the pit of water. When the quake finally stopped, from the center of the lake emerged what appeared to be some kind of, (for want of a better term), Uber-Lapras. A massive head coated with pearly white armor, probably more for looks than protection. A huge shell spiked with stalagmites that glittered a prism of colors. The beast was ten or so times Dile's size, and naturally Dile was scared. His fear heightened as the beast roared with the ferocity of a tsunami and revealed rows of glittering serrated fangs.

Dile was shaken and surprised by this monstrosity, but he had not come this far to be disheartened now. "Who are you?" He demanded, although he already knew the answer.

_"I am Loraquar, the Lakebed Titan Pokemon, the God of these waters and ruler of your kind! Your foolish devotion has brought you to the depths of my domain, now I shall crush you and end this defiance!"_

"The only thing ending today is your grip on the people and pokemon of this lake! Hear me Loraquar, I may be fighting alone, but the hopes of my kind fight with me! I will bring you down in the name of all you have oppressed! Prepare to meet your end!" As Dile gave his last threat to the Titan, he prepared his "Secret Weapon": a small stone with a teardrop on it that Alessa had given him, it was time to see it at work. "In the name of the dwellers of Illusion Lake, to end the mindless reign of oppression..." He began the ancient words of power, Loraquar looked unsettled at his words, _ "This cannot be, you cannot possibly..."._ Dile continued as he raised the stone above his head, "To defend all in their time of need, I ask that you lend me your strength! Go, Illusion Evolution!" He began to glow as light swirled down from the Illusion Droplet he held above him, the sacred treasure of the Lake. He began to change and grow more powerful than any Water-type ever before seen. When the Illusion Evolution stopped he was truly a worthy match for a Titan Pokemon, he had gone beyond his final evolution to an unimaginable new level. He was now Ferocidile. But he knew this change would not last so he wasted no further time with talk and launched right into attack. The battle for the future of the Lake had finally truly begun.


	7. Water: A New Beginning

Ancient Ways

Water Chapter 4: A New Beginning

The showdown between Dile and Loraquar began! Loraquar was still in shock at Dile's startling Illusion Evolution, so Dile opened with the first move. "Surf!" He cried as the basin water churned and slammed into Loraquar with ferocity akin to the moves user. Ferocidile was truly a behemoth, three times as large as a fully evolved Feraligator, with sapphire armor plating and rows of serrated fangs. His hands had four thick claws apiece, and his jaws could crush castle walls. As soon as the Surf ended he launched into a Crunch attack, his bared fangs aimed at Loraquar's long neck. Loraquar for his part was jolted from his surprise by the water, although it was little more than an annoyance to the mighty titan. He narrowly evaded the Crunch by diving beneath the waves. That was his first mistake. Dile, seeing his foe dive called upon the power of a move that was utterly forbidden, a move so powerful that no pokemon could use it under normal circumstances. All pokemon moves required energy, and this one was so costly that to use it almost always meant death. Dile raised his mighty arms high, and bellowed with a voice heard in the city above words that seemed to come of their own volition, "For the subjugated people and pokemon of this lake, I end your reign Titan, even if it should cost me my life! GO, Tsunami Cyclone!" The Forbidden Move of Water began, shaking the cave from top to bottom. It swirled the water faster and faster, knocking Loraquar around with it. Loraquar responded by using his Titan Special, Torrential Deluge, to barrage Dile with megatons of forceful waves. Despite this brutal onslaught Dile held his ground and the mighty force of Tsunami Cyclone slammed into the sides of the basin as the water began to rise in the mighty cyclone which gave the move its name. The combined forces of the oceanic furies began to crush Loraquar between them. He was swirled higher and higher until he reached the center of the vortex, swearing curses in an undecipherable ancient tongue. Then everything seemed to stop at once. It held for a good three seconds as the two almighty Water-types faced each other eye-to-eye.

"_Know this foolish pokemon, as I know my end is nigh."_ Loraquar managed to say, _"I will pass on, but know that my soul will return, it will end your miserable existence. If you wish to face your fate, leave this lake and travel to the Temple of the Sun."_

"Loraquar, whatever tricks you have planned, I will face them." Dile said. Then the water crashed inward, when it was done the Titan was no more than a small puddle on the ground.

The basin was again still and silent, as Dile glowed with a silver light and shrank back down to his normal self. He turned and saw Alessa rising from the ground. He grinned and ran to her, delivering a big hug. Alessa giggled and put him down from around her waist. He was all bouncy again. Yet still, Alessa sensed a difference in her companion. She never knew exactly what had happened, but Dile was a whole new pokemon now, strong-willed, brave, and loyal to his friend.

"C'mon, Dile, " she said "Let's go back up and tell the whole lake what happened here."

Upon resurfacing from the cave they found a whole crowd of lower level pokemon cheering them on, and higher level pokemon gazing in awe and anger, the priest of the "Lake God" was prepared with a big speech, as always, but Alessa cut him off.

"People of Illusion Lake! Listen to me! Too long have we tormented others, too long have we suffered under a tyrant's rule, too long have we been bound by traditions and ceremonies. All that ended today! The "Sea God" we have all revered was no more than an evil pokemon, and though his might was great my friend had something greater! Conviction and willingness to rise above the norm, belief in himself and others! These proved far superior to the expectations and chains meant to bind him to strict orders! Let this be symbolic and prove once and for all that no one is better than anyone else. Let's begin a new age of fairness and equality in Illusion Lake. This not an end. It is a beginning!"

Dile couldn't resist the temptation, "Nice speech." He said simply. The lower class cheered and the upper class looked downcast at the destruction of their high status, it was clear now that they were in the wrong and now the lower classes would not remain subservient any longer. The tyranny was over once and for all. Sadly the young duo could not stay to see the rebuilding of social order. Upon hearing about Loraquar final threat, Alessa accompanied Dile out of the lake as they set off to the surface world for the first time. Their adventure was just beginning.


	8. Dark: The Prankster Mimic

Author Note: Here is the next segment. At this point we have another protagonist switch, and a new location. This is my favorite section so far and I hope you enjoy! All helpful reviews will be appreciated.

Ancient Ways

Dark Chapter 1: The Prankster Mimic

Around the same time as the liberation of Illusion Lake from the grip of Loraquar, another village faced an entirely different plight. This village lay hidden from Barbaros' grip by way of a cavern network deep below the ground. Despite there being multiple entrances, (pretty much every cave in the land was connected), no one could get in or out of the so-called Endless Cave easily. This made it a perfect village for people and pokemon of the Old Ways to hide in. Just because they weren't attacked by Barbaros doesn't necessarily mean they had no problems, however. One such problem was currently active, a exuberant yet troublesome human called Eclipse. The Village of the Caves was almost entirely populated by Rock- and Ground-type inhabitants, but Eclipse was a Dark-type, and a serious troublemaker. From overturned carts to rashes of petty theft, pretty much any misdemeanor could be attributed to him. The question which baffled the citizenry was not who the culprit was, but _where_? He didn't seem to live in town and the tunnels were supposedly impassable, so where was he when he wasn't causing trouble (rare though those times may have been)? The answer was fairly simple, the caves were not as complex as people thought. That simple fact that no one understood them was enough to make them so seemingly complex that no one dared attempt to travel them. No one, that is, but Eclipse. He realized the trick in no time but it was his closely guarded secret, until that fateful day.

It began simple enough, a little heist of an Everstone, nothing special. Why steal an Everstone he couldn't use? Why _not_ steal an Everstone he couldn't use? Eclipse was chuckling on the inside at his mental rhetoric. He was hanging from a stalactite above the Marketplace in town by a rope, waiting for his opportunity, and simultaneously listening in on town gossip. He overheard the usual talk about Barbaros and stuff he didn't care about particularly, as well as something called the Revolution at Illusion Lake, also uninteresting. Finally, everyone started to leave and the shopkeepers began closing up to go home for the "day" (despite the lack of uniform time underground the Solrock and Lunatone that lit the cave alternated glows to mark day and night). This was his chance to proceed, so he focused inward, willing his Shadow Cloak ability to respond and then descended on the Market with his grappling line.

He slipped into the stalls easily, invisibility tends to make that fairly simple, and began searching for the Rare Rocks Display. Unfortunately for him, after he picked the lock and stepped over the threshold, a particularly loud alarm sounded from within the stall, IT WAS A TRAP! All thought of the heist was replaced by thoughts of escape. Invisible though he may have been, it would be hard to escape with the place surrounded by alert and attentive guards. He didn't relish a run-in with a particularly angry Rhydon. So he immediately turned on his heel and ran from the stall. He ran and ran and ran, and was almost to the town gate when the gate began to close! Left with no choice and little time he used his quick escape tactic, Agility, and ran even faster. He zipped even faster, no longer invisible due to the fact that he used a move, and rushed through the gate with just seconds to go and he fled into the darkness of the tunnel beyond, the problem was he was so focused on the running that he missed the fact that someone, or something, was following him. He rounded a corner of the tunnel and was halfway down another before he caught wind of the fact that he was being followed. He slowed down to a walk and the follower slowed down. He sped up, it sped up. It followed him in an eerie lockstep, but he was reluctant to turn and face it, in case that would provoke an attack. Finally his youthful curiosity won out and he whipped around to face his stalker. He was more than a little surprised to see a Zorua also turning around to look behind it.

~The little tyke is copying me.~ Eclipse thought.

He saw no threat in the Zorua and he reached out to pet it, when suddenly it spun around and looked him right in the eyes. The tunnel around Eclipse grew fuzzy in his vision and he couldn't look away. The Zorua did not look angry but instead gazed intensely in a kind of "looking-into-your-soul" staring contest manner. Eclipse suddenly heard the Zorua say his name. Then it said it again, then again, then again, then again...

"WHAT!?" He shouted with an edge of ire in his voice.

The Zorua then responded: "Hi." and commenced laughing hysterically.

"Oh, come on! All the dramatic build-up for THAT?!" Eclipse demanded. The Zorua kept giggling and rolling around. Eclipse couldn't help but laugh too, it was rather infectious. Then he stopped and caught his breath, before telling the Zorua,

"You know what? Let's team up! You and me are gonna get along jussssst fine." He got up and put Zorua, still chuckling slightly, on his shoulder.

He set off into the tunnels once again, but shortly after the first turn the Zorua told him to turn left, he shrugged and went left. Then it said go right, and he shrugged and went right. Finally, it said "We're lost now!" and began chuckling. Eclipse stopped dead, being lost in these caves was really,_ really, __**really, REALLY,**_ bad. He had assumed the Zorua knew where it was going, but now they were in trouble, big trouble. How would they find their way out?


	9. Dark: The Titan's Tunnel

Ancient Ways

Dark Chapter: The Titan's Tunnel

Eclipse cursed his stupidity. He also cursed the Zorua, and the lack of sunlight, and the lack of _any_ light, and pretty much everything else ticking him off at the moment. That was a rather large list of things considering the situation he was in: lost, criminally wanted, and paired with the most obnoxious pain-in-the-, but his mental vulgarity was cut short by the Zorua who had suddenly bit his ear.

"OW!" Eclipse yelped, "What was that for, you little monster?"

"Little monster! Little monster! Hehehehehe!" The Zorua parroted him and did that annoyingly infectious giggle.

"Knock it off would you!" Eclipse grew impatient and began to yell louder, which became his next biggest mistake.

The cavern began rumbling and heaving, sending little flecks of dirt and small pebbles raining down on the duo. The cave was fairly large so whatever was coming at them had to be big and bad and in a particularly foul mood. Eclipse did something he was good at, grabbing small objects of seemingly negligible value (like the Zorua) and running like the dickens in the direction opposite the trouble. He ran for a good 20 minutes and stopped only when the noise did. He fell down chest heaving and the Zorua squirmed out of his grip and began giggling again.

"If you keep laughing at me, I'll name you Giggles, you twerp." He expected the Zorua to parrot him again, but it just looked at him and said, in a pathetically innocent voice, "But my name is Luna!"

Eclipse was sharply taken aback, as he had always assumed the Zorua was a boy, but Luna was most definitely a girl name.

~Hmmmm, well there _is _a saying about assuming things, I guess.~

"Fine, Luna, just please stop copying me!"

She responded, "But that's what I do! Copy, play tricks, and 'borrow' stuff!"

"Wait, like 5-finger-discount borrow?" Eclipse began to recognize a potential partner in crime.

Luna replied, "I don't have fingers!" and commenced laughing again.

Abandoning the situation, Eclipse realized that they should probably work on getting out of the tunnels before Mr. Nasty decided he was still hungry. Right on cue the ground vibrated again.

"Look, Luna, I think I can retrace our steps, but whatever is following us is still there. Think you can beat whatever it is?"

Luna thought for a bit then said, "Can you? Because if you can I can!"

It took Eclipse a few second to realize what she meant, she would just mimic his moves to fight! "All right, " He said, "We'll fight together!"

Just as he said it, the wall of the tunnel on their right exploded and from within came a monster out of the townspeople's worst nightmares. The Steel-Titan Triplex.

Luna was the first to flip-out. "I thought the whole 'three-headed Steelix' thing was a lie to get kids to behave!"

"Funny how those tend to be true, " Eclipse said, "But now we have no choice, we have to fight!"

"Right behind you!"

The battle opened with Triplex loosing a devastating Tri-attack on the two opponents, with each head spewing another murderous ray. They managed to split apart in time to dodge the attack and attempted to circle and flank the monster. This just caused Triplex to turn two heads at Eclipse and one at Luna, all six of its eyes were filled with hunger. The duo launched a relentless barrage of Faint Attacks and Dark Pulses, but when they let up Triplex looked totally unscathed. Then Triplex apparently decided that the cliché playtime was over, and used Triple-Cannon a vastly superior Flash Cannon attack, the two combatants flew into and through opposite walls with a shuddering crash. Triplex decided to eat the big one first and began to proceed toward Eclipse, when Luna struggled to her feet.

"Leave him alone!" She yelled as bravely as possible.

**THWACK**! She took the Iron Tail right to the face. This sent her through the wall again, into another cavern where she lost consciousness.

As she drifted off she saw one of the Triplex heads rise and roar. Then everything went black.


	10. Dark: The Cavern Caretaker

Ancient Ways

Dark Chapter: The Cavern Caretaker

_D__rip. Drip. Drip._

Luna awoke to the rhythmic tapping of water falling from a stalactite. Unaware of where she was she tried to raise her head, but found that she could not move at all. She was stuck to the ground by some kind of weight, but nothing was on top of her. Why couldn't she move? Suddenly a noise came from behind her, a sound of steel scraping on stone. Horrified, she prepared to be eaten by Triplex, which she assumed was encroaching on her. She was more startled to hear a computerized voice that sounded like it was coming from low quality speakers.

"TRESPASSER DETECTED, RESTRAINTS IN PLACE. IDENTIFICATION PLEASE."

Luna was so freaked out that she sputtered out, "Huzzawhat?" and the voice continued,

"SCANNING... ZERO INSTANCES OF HUZZAWHAT IN MEMORY. SECOND ATTEMPT, IDENTIFICATION PLEASE."

By now Luna had recovered enough to realize that the thing behind her wanted her name, "Luna." She said.

"SCANNING... ZERO INSTANCES OF LUNA IN MEMORY. FINAL ATTEMPT, PROVIDE VALID IDENTIFICATION OR FACE EXPUNCTION."

Luna had no clue what Ex-sponge-shun was, but it didn't sound good, she thought hard while attempting to ignore the twenty second countdown that the unknown voice had started.

"TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX..."

"Zorua!" She said, hoping it would accept a broader species definition.

"SCANNING... ONE INSTANCE OF ZORUA IN MEMORY. IDENTIFICATION 'DRK02'. THOUGHT PATTERN MATCH, SCANNING..."

At this stage, Luna was thoroughly confused and worried. Her mind raced as she recalled the "battle" with Triplex and then she suddenly remembered the funny boy from earlier, Eclipse! He was in trouble! That was provided Triplex hadn't eaten him whole already. Her train of thought was derailed by the voice again.

"THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR, HE LIVES."

"What? Really?"

"INDEED. TRIPLEX WILL NOT EAT HIM, IT ONLY DIGESTS STONE AND METAL. TO CHALLENGE THE TITAN, HOWEVER, WAS EXCEEDINGLY FOOLISH OF HIM."

"He had no choice!"

"REGARDLESS, THE SUCCESS PROBABILITY AT HIS LEVEL WAS 00.01%. IT WAS VERY NEAR TO SUICIDE."

"Who ARE you anyway? How do you know so much?" Luna demanded.

"WE ARE KNOWN AS METAGROSS, DESIGNATION 'STL01', OUR DUTY IS SIMPLE WE COLLECT AND ARCHIVE DATA FOR OUR MASTER. THE RESULT IS MUCH KNOWLEDGE. WE KNOW ALL OF THIS CAVERN AND ALL CAVERNS BEYOND. WE KNOW MUCH AND WE CAN HELP YOU DEFEAT TRIPLEX, IF THAT IS TRULY WHAT YOU DESIRE."

"Well, duh, that's what I desire! My friend could be in trouble!"

"WE HOPE YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU ARE ATTEMPTING. TO CHALLENGE A TITAN IS 99.99% UNTHINKABLE. WITHOUT SOME METHOD OF EQUALIZING THE POWER DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND TRIPLEX... SIMPLY PUT THERE IS NO SIGNIFICANT CHANCE A LOW-LEVEL, FIRST-EVOLUTUION DARK TYPE COULD EVER OVERCOME THE NEAR ALMIGHTY POWER OF TRIPLEX OR ANOTHER TITAN."

"Another titan? You mean there's more than one?"

"CERTAINLY, THERE IS CURRENTLY 1 ACTIVE TITAN FOR ALL COMMONLY REPRESENTED TYPES EXCEPT FOR WATER."

"Why not water?"

"THE WATER TITAN 'LORAQUAR' DESIGNATION 'WTITN' WAS TERMINATED 2.04 DAYS AGO."

"Wow, for a robot that no one has seen before, you sure are surprisingly trendy."

"THIS WILL BE STORED IN MEMORY AS A COMPLIMENT. WE ARE GRATEFUL."

"I assume that means thank you?"

"AFFIRMATIVE. WE NOW SUGGEST DISCUSSION OF DEFEATING TRIPLEX."

Luna realized she had been so caught up in talking that she forgot the issue at hand.

"So what do I need to do?"

"THE FIRST ACTION YOU MUST TAKE IS LOCATING THE LAIR OF TRIPLEX, WE ALREADY KNOW WHERE IT IS, BUT IF YOU WISH TO DEFEAT THE TITAN, YOU MUST FIND IT'S LAIR UNAIDED."

"I thought you said you would help!"

"WE SHALL. UPON FINDING TRIPLEX YOU MUST UTILIZE YOUR SKILLS TO THEIR MAXIMUM POTENTIAL. REMEMBER YOU NEED NOT DEFEAT TRIPLEX IF HE DEFEATS HIMSELF."

"Wait, what does that mean?"

"NO FURTHER INFORMATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. WE WILL NOW TELEPORT YOU TO THE ENTRANCE TO THE BEAST'S LABYRINTH. SOMEWHERE WITHIN LIES THE LAIR OF TRIPLEX. GOOD LUCK AND FAREWELL."

And so, Metagross's voice ceased. Luna became dizzy as the world spun and finally she blacked out. When she awoke, she was there, the mouth of the labyrinth. Without hesitation or time for second thoughts she plunged into the maze.


	11. Dark: The Labyrinth and the Beast

Ancient Ways

Dark Chapter: The Labyrinth and the Beast

Luna wandered on, plodding slowly as if in a trance, She had no idea how long she had been in the maze, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered, nothing was different. All the walls were the same, the turns were meaningless, the intersections were indistinguishable from each other. All the maze was as one. No entrance, no exit, no escape, no hope. Despair washed over Luna as she staggered on. Left. Right. Left. Right. The steps took to an unending pattern. Onward she walked, she had given up pondering how long she was in the maze or what to do next. It was pointless, nothing changed.

Once, it seemed so long ago, she had been in a rush to get through the Labyrinth. Now, the memory of why became fuzzy and vague. Something important, something urgent... Luna had a inkling of a thought go through her head, then, just as the maze nearly extinguished it the thought blazed up again. "ECLIPSE!" She yelled, realizing with horror how close she had come to losing herself entirely to the labyrinth. "Eclipse is in trouble, and I'm lolly-gagging around here! What is WRONG with me?" She stopped to think, she couldn't let the maze defeat her again, there HAD to be a way out. Suddenly she realized that the Labyrinth was like the tunnels that the townspeople stayed away from, and she knew how to get around in those! Maybe if it was the same here...

She decided to try it, and so she stood completely still and focused, envisioning her destination. Unfortunately, because she had no clue what Triplex's lair looked like, she just had to envision Eclipse and hope the tunnel led to him. Then, the image firm in her mind, she continued down the path. After five turns the walls of the tunnel changed, where once they were solid uneven rock, they had changed to steely, flat surfaces with sharp turns. At last, the tunnel opened into a large domed area with green, blue, and red lights on the walls at regular intervals. This had to be it. The Lair of Triplex. She looked around for Eclipse, but could not find him anywhere. The room was completely open and yet neither Eclipse nor Triplex could be found. Maybe she went the wrong way? She turned around to head out, but found that the door had disappeared! Startled, she backed up a few steps. Then the shock wave hit her.

"ROOOOOOOOAAAAR!" The ground shook and Triplex's cry of anger hit Luna like a missile. She whipped around again and there it was in all its fearsome and terrifying glory. Triplex, the triad titanium terror. She almost took a second to appreciate her mental alliteration, but Triplex apparently wasn't as keen when it came to liking poetry. He didn't hesitate to attack with Iron Tail. Luna scampered away as fast as she could and the attack hit the wall with a vibrating CRASH. The noise bounced off the walls and assaulted her ears, causing her to lose focus. Her vision blurred as the noise slowly faded away, she only barely leaped and rolled aside before Triplex's follow up attack came. The Flash Cannon hit the wall and once again the ringing began. It was so aggravating! She couldn't focus or see clearly or... WHAP! One of Triplex's head ran into her in a devastating and mildly barbaric Headbutt. She hit the wall hard and it was no surprise to her to hear the ringing start again. She was close to fainting and subsequently becoming a flattened corpse, when she heard a voice call out from somewhere beyond the ringing cacophony. "Luna! Up here!" It was Eclipse! Not believing the miracle she looked up and saw him in an alcove in the ceiling above.

"Luna, you have to get up here!" He kept calling to her.

"HOW?" She called back, "Your way up there and I'm down here!"

"C'mon, use your head! What is the tallest thing in the room?"

She dodged another attack, barely, and realized that Triplex was large enough that his heads were only a little lower than the ledge. She began to form an idea, a crazy idea, over the discord of the ringing. Then she took action. Triplex tried Headbutt again, but this time instead of dodging to the side Luna jumped on top of his head and poked one of his six eyes. He roared and reared upward, flinging Luna into the air in the process. She landed on the ledge where Eclipse was, a perfect landing.

"Where have you been?" She asked him anxiously.

"Long story. Right now, we have to find a way to deal with huge Mr. Tin Cans down there. His sensors are actually really bad, he probably won't even notice us at all up here." Eclipse then looked at Luna in the eyes before asking, "So, any ideas?"

Luna thought for a bit about what she knew about Triplex and what Metagross had said before about how to beat him. Then she said, "Yeah, I've got one. It's a bit tricky, though. You ready?" At a nod from him she said, "Then listen up and let's bring those losers down!"


	12. Dark: The Bigger They Are

Ancient Ways

Dark Chapter: The Bigger They Are...

The "plan" was surprisingly simple. The reasoning was that Triplex had fairly poor sensors, so he could only attack targets that were nearby. The point then was to take advantage of his weak perceptions and make him use his own power against him. The room would do that just fine. Because the Lair was the ultimate echo machine, Luna figured that they could use the massive amounts of reflected sound to mess up Triplex's targeting. Steel types tended to overload their processing if over worked, Titan or not.

So they started by hitting the wall of the balcony they were on. The immediate problem was that both Luna and Eclipse combined couldn't produce the resounding crash that Triplex could. The sound was too soft. Then they thought hard for awhile.

"What if we got Triplex to hit the wall?" Luna wondered aloud.

Eclipse replied, "How do we do that? Jump down there and shout 'Hey, you should attack me!'?"

"I was just thinking is all..." Luna pouted.

"Wait..." Eclipse was remembering something faintly, "You're a Zorua, right?"

"What does it look like I am?" Luna said sarcastically.

"With you, it doesn't matter what you _look_ like!" He said with a note of triumph.

"Huh?" Luna didn't get why he was so excited.

"Make yourself look like Triplex!"

"Why? It's just an illusion, I don't get his moves or anything."

Eclipse finally spilled the point of his plan.

"Yeah, but you do get his SIZE! Since it only drops when you get hit. You could smack the wall while gigantic and it would be like Triplex smacked the wall!"

Luna pointed out the one flaw with their "plan".

"I wouldn't fit up on this ledge..."

Eclipse replied, "You don't have, too!"

Taken aback, Luna thought he wanted her to risk being eaten by a Triplex, possibly more than once.

"Are you crazy!"

"No," He said "I'm smart!"

"That'll never work!"

"It will if your invisible!"

"How am I going to be huge AND invisible!"

"I can make anything I touch invisible while I'm touching it."

"Oh. How?" Luna didn't know about Shadow Cloak.

"I'm a talented guy. What can I say?"

Next they worked out the details, Luna would turn into Triplex, as Eclipse made them invisible. Then, he would drop the cloak, Luna smacks the wall, Triplex charges, and they cloak up and move. Lather, rinse, repeat. At least that was the plan, anyway. Reality disagreed.

It started out smoothly, the cloak and dodge trick worked once, twice... Then on the third try disaster struck!

The echoes of the smacks and Triplex hitting the walls violently became louder and louder, reaching ear-breaking levels of volume. Deafened, Eclipse could only watch in horror as Luna (disguised as Triplex) apparently fainted and fell to the ground. Eclipse couldn't tell what happened. Was the noise too much? Had she been hit? Finally the reverberations overpowered him as well and he passed out...

Both awoke with a start as they shouted in unison.

"Who what when where why how whazzit whozzit howzzit!"

They were cut off by familiar bad audio speakers.

"WELCOME BACK TO THE REALM OF THE LIVING."

Eclipse kept screaming. Luna realized that they were no longer in Triplex's lair.

"Metagross! How did we get here? Did we win? Is Triplex defeated?"

"NEGATIVE, THEY YET LIVE."

Eclipse stopped yelling. "Oh no. It didn't work? Awwwww MAN!"

"FEAR NOT, YOUR PLAN SUCCEEDED. TRIPLEX IS DISABLED. AFTER YOU FAINTED WE TELEPORTED YOU AWAY, TRIPLEX CONTINUED THEIR ATTACKS BLINDLY AND OVERPOWERED THEMSELVES."

"But it's still alive right? We can't rest now!" Eclipse was acting brave but really he didn't want to charge headlong into another titan fight.

"TRIPLEX IS NOT SO EASY TO DEFEAT. THEY ARE KNOWN AS THE MOST RESILIENT OF ALL TITANS. SOME CALL THEM INVINCIBLE."

"Soooooooo... What do we do?" Luna asked.

"THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO AT YOUR CURRENT LEVEL. TRIPLEX WILL REACTIVATE IN 1 WEEK. WHEN THAT HAPPENS YOU MUST BE GONE."

"Gone! Why?" Eclipse and Luna had nowhere to go.

"TRIPLEX WILL HUNT YOU ENDLESSLY SHOULD YOU REMAIN IN THE TUNNELS. NO. YOU MUST TRAVEL ABOVEGROUND. YOU TWO HAVE BEEN CHOSEN, YOU MUST FULFILL YOUR ROLES. WE WILL SEND YOU TO THE SURFACE, FROM THERE, TRAVEL TO THE TEMPLE IN THE CENTER OF THE LAND ABOVE."

"But, how will we know where to go? Neither of us has been above before!" Luna was worried. But Eclipse was twenty types of excited!

"You got it Meta-whatever! We won't let you down!"

"No wait!" But Luna's cry came too late Metagross had begun the transport sequence. The world faded out. No turning back now.


	13. Flying: Exam Day

Ancient Ways

*Authors Note: This is the last of my stockpiled sections. After Flying 2 I probably won't post anywhere near as often. I just thought I should give you a heads-up.*

Flying Chapter: Exam Day

It was around this time that the Cloud-Top City, Acropolis, was holding the final flight test for the new recruits of the Airborne Squadron. Acropolis had always controlled the airways of the land since time immemorial. It maintained this iron grip by enforcing the "3-Second Statute", which stated that _any _unauthorized flight would result in an immediate removal from Acropolis Airspace, no warnings and it wouldn't take longer than 3 seconds for response teams to ground perpetrators. They upheld this law firmly and even Barbaros's Aerial Force could not question them. Of all the hidden resistance villages. This was the only one Barbaros knew the location of. This put it at the most risk, but it had yet to fail in defending it's citizenry. It took great pride in its troops' abilities, yet pride normally goes before a fall.

The Skarmory sergeant was angry, as usual. He yelled at the trainees to line up for their "motivational" routine.

"ALL RIGHT, YOU LITTLE BABIES! LINE UP, STRAIGHT LINES, NO PUSHING!"

Somewhere in the back row a yawn rose up from the crowd. One of the cadets had overslept.

"YOU! CADET NUMBER 137! WHEN DO YOU WANNA WAKE UP! 'CUZ IF THE ANSWER AIN'T 'NOW!' I CAN'T GUARANTEE YOU EVER WILL!"

"... Tomorrow?" The reply was feeble and that only served to enrage the Skarmory further.

"LOOK HERE, YOU YELLOW-BELLIED SAP-SUCKER! I GIVE YOU 3 SECONDS TO SHAPE UP OR YOU AIN'T TAKING THE EXAM! YA GOT THAT!?"

The Human cadet looked up with a mystified expression and said,

"The exam is today?"

"THAT'S RIGHT AND YOU, MR. SLEEPY FACE, JUST VOLUNTEERED TO GO FIRST!"

The front of the line complained that they were supposed to go in order. They were about half way through the articulation when they were subsequently silenced by a veritably lethal glare from the sergeant.

"TRAINEE 137, FRONT AND CENTER, NOW!"

The trainee moseyed casually up to the front like nothing was wrong. When he got there he snapped a quick salute and said, "Reporting for 'duty', sir!"

It didn't take a genius to pick up on the sarcasm of the statement but the Skarmory was selected for vocal capability not intelligence.

"IT'S ABOUT TIME! YOUR MISSION TO PROVE YOURSELF WORTHY OF THE SQUADRON IS TO COMPLETE THE TRAINING COURSE UNAIDED IN LESS THAN 60 SECONDS. IF YOU ARE TAGGED BY THE ACTIVE GUST TURRETS YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED AND GROUNDED UNTIL NEXT YEAR. DO I MAKE MYSELF 200% CLEAR?"

The trainee almost smirked and said simply, "Crystal clear. I'm ready."

"THEN GO!"

The platform at 137's feet fell away and he was off.

The wind rushed past him in a blur of sound and sensation, and as it did his mind cleared. And he set it to the task at hand. No one in his class could fault his ability to perform. As far as Human Flyers went he was among the best. There was no question he would succeed in the relatively simple test. He was well over half way through and still had 45 seconds left. He could make it easy. He barrel-rolled, dodging a Gust from the turret by just a fraction of an inch. He could see the finish. Finally he was going to be able to join the Squadron, just like his...

His train of thought was interrupted by a loud explosion to his left in one of the cloud spires. What could that have been? He was tempted to turn around but he stuck to the test. Strangely, as he touched down no one yelled, or told him congrats, or anything. He opened his eyes and staggered. The landing zone was a mess of bodies and the survivors were stuck behind the nearby bunker wall. Something had hit the platform. And whatever it was meant business.


	14. Flying: Unbelievable

Ancient Ways

Flying Chapter: Unbelievable

Trainee 137 immediately switched over to his Trooper attitude upon seeing the carnage caused by whatever unknown force was assailing the squad from that spire. He counted the number of moving bodies on the platform, twenty or so from first glance. He then scanned for the impact zone, wherever the cannon had hit them. It didn't take long to notice the gaping hole in the cloud layer they were on. He couldn't say for sure, but it looked as though the hole was sparking, and growing. That, of course, meant he had limited time, so he decided to spend all his effort saving survivors instead of counter-attacking. He managed to get four trainees in the air toward the barracks when he heard another sound like the one he had picked up while testing. A roar mixed with a thunderous crash. He took to the sky on instinct, willing himself to rise. A second later, the cloud platform vaporized as a result of the assailant's second attack. The very dust of the cloud seemed to fade as it was enveloped in a crackling lightning bolt. As quickly as it struck, it was gone. He realized that there were no more survivors and chose to evacuate and call reinforcements, instead of facing this mysterious attacker alone. So he flew as fast as he could safely go, back to the command center in the city to deliver the terrible news.

"So what you're telling me, recruit..." The desk officer Pelipper started with a disbelieving sigh, "Is that some all-powerful thing vaporized almost your entire squad and then you ran away?"

"Sir, yes sir." 137 replied dutifully, "It was too risky to attack it alone so I came here for reinforcements."

"Then you are just like all the new recruits these days, fledgling cowards! If it were me I would have fought it to my dying breath and then some!"

"With all due respect, sir, that would be a needless sacrifice and a poor decision strategically." 137 spoke without thinking.

"An insult! Why should I believe you? We haven't seen anything on the Security Channels about this 'unstoppable attacker'! You're lucky if I don't report you to the higher ups! Get outta here!"

"But this thing could destroy the whole city! We have to sound the alarm!"

"'Sound the alarm!'" The Pelipper mocked him, "Right, whatever, just go away."

Left with no option and feeling more angry then he had ever been Trainee 137 made a choice he could never take back, he left the building.

Later, he was seen moping around the walled city of Acropolis, surrounded by clouds in the sky. He went to all his usual places from his childhood, the plaza outside the candy shop, the arcade, the cloud park, but he still felt apprehensive, angry, and miserable. He had no idea that what had happened at the platform was an omen, and things were about to get much, much worse. He finally settled in an empty bench in the park, glowering and angry. No one wanted to get near him, until he heard a loud peep and looked up in surprise. It was a Swablu, a fairly young one from the looks of it.

"Hiya! What's wrong?"

137 emitted a sound that sounded like 'goway'.

"Speak up! I can't hear you." The Swablu persisted. "It's impolite to mutter!"

"I said, 'Go away'!" 137 shouted, a slight bit louder than he had intended, The Swablu backed away, half frightened, half shocked. Then, surprisingly came close again.

"It's not very polite to yell." She protested calmly. "If something is bothering you, we can talk."

137 commanded himself to stay calm and replied like a pouty kid,

"I don't want to talk..."

"You might just need a good listener." The Swablu offered.

"Look, you wanna know why I'm angry!? Is it really so important that you need to pester me repeatedly?! Fine! I used to be the ace of my class, just about graduated, and even more recently got my loser rear handed to me by who-knows-what and now I'm the laughing stock of the entire army! We could all die like my platoon and there isn't a stupid thing I can do about it!" He yelled the last part before thinking through the fact that he was in public. The crowd watching the spectacle took a good twelve seconds to realize what he said, then surged forward with scared faces and a million zillion questions.

"What's attacking, where, when, how, why? Really? You're sure? How do you know? Should we run? Are we going to die? Where is there to run to?" All the questions swirled around him, his ongoing headache flared and he just wanted to fly away from it all...

"EVERYBODY, STOP!" The questions ceased as the mob looked for who yelled, they all looked left, then right, then left... When finally with an exasperated sigh some one said...

"I'm down here. And it's impolite to crowd around people and ask a zillion questions." The Swablu said in a matter-of-fact tone. "He's obviously tired and needs rest could you pleeeeeeeease leave him alone?"

The crowd looked ready to argue, then looked at the fatigued young man, shrugged, and left saying things like "He's probably just dreaming or something..."

"Thank you..." The boy managed to start, but he was cut off by the Swablu.

"Don't thank me, follow me!", she said and she took off.

Wearily, the boy followed, wondering what could possibly go wrong next...

Coming soon(ish): Flying 3: Full Salvo


End file.
